Austin is not the only city with a booming art scene now that Texas State students and alumni are ensuring San Marcos has its own space for artists.
Evan Ferguson, business senior, hosted his first pop-up art exhibit for with the support of SMTX Ripple Market Feb. 17, held at Splash Coworking.
His project, “It Starts With Youth,” has been in the works for two years and consists of 160 photos. His portraits draw inspiration from photographers Petra Collins and Ren Hang.
Ferguson said he enjoys using his friends as models in his photos because it was his friends who pushed him to continue this project. While nearly every photo has a human subject, Ferguson utilizes different lighting, poses and complementary objects in the photos to capture each of his subject’s personalities.
“I really hope (my audience) sees it doesn’t matter who you are, you have a space,” Ferguson said. “It doesn’t matter what color, how tall, how short you are, if you’re big or small; you are beautiful. You create your space and you make it happen.”
Faylita Hicks, founder and creator of Arrondi Creative Productions and Texas State alumna, runs The Ripple Market in San Marcos. She asked Ferguson to be part of The Ripple Market after becoming familiar with his work in another exhibit and on Instagram. Ferguson is the first to have a solo-exhibit at The Ripple Market.
Hicks helped Ferguson construct a theme, concept, aesthetic and prices for the exhibit she would host with him. Together they created the atmosphere they wanted for the exhibit and spread the word.
Hicks started her business last year and introduced The Ripple Market three months later. She said she enjoys giving back to her community so art can be shared and enjoyed.
“It’s super important art is accessible. I especially want to focus on people of color, women and the LBGTQ(IA) community. It’s important I show a young man of color and his work because you don’t see that very often in San Marcos,” Hicks said.
Splash Coworking is founded and co-managed by alumna Carina Pinales. Pinales said she created Splash with the intention of giving space to growing artists and entrepreneurs.
“Me being an artist, I get to see what the youth are doing, and it allows me to see that they are being generationally independent and not being constrained by the traditional ideals of what work should look like,” Pinales said.
Pinales sees that Ferguson puts purpose behind his work and it provokes conversation.
Ferguson is already working on future projects and said it is surreal for him to display his work to the public.
“I want the Texas State community to see it is possible to fill your own art shows and to have DIY spaces. I want them to feel like they don’t have to travel to Austin to do these things; they can make it happen themselves,” Ferguson said.
Pieces of this collection are for sale in different sizes ranging from Polaroid to 8×10 pictures. To see Ferguson’s work or obtain more information about purchasing a piece, check out his Instagram @brokenheartssocialclub.